Now and for the Last Time

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Two and a half hour later, I was busy untangling yet another tulle bow from a chair. It was 10:30, long last the originally projected end of the Jeon wedding, and we'd just seen the last of the guests out the doors to their cars. This was a full hour after the departure of the bride and groom, which, despite the happy cuddling I'd seen at the head table earlier, did not - as far as my system went, anyway - bode well for their union. While the guest threw birdseed and confetti (great for pictures, awful if you didn't want it on you and your clothes forever), Somin and her groom came out to the limo to make their grand exit. They smiled for the camera and their friends and family. But in the final view I caught a glance that she was pulling her skirt as if he'd sat on it, her annoyed, while he sat back against the seat, rolling his eyes. For them, I wihed for forgiveness.

Maybe, I realized, I believed in wishes after all. At least for other people. Thinking this, I looked over at Sehun, who was collecting the big flower arrangements from the tables and carrying them to Mrs. Jeon's car. What she planned to do in her hotel room with 20 towering vases of flowers was anyone's guess. She'd made it very clear, however, that she would be taking anything the family paid for with her when she (finally) left. For the time being, Sehun and I were the only ones left to hear them, however; Eomma and Wooyoung had taken their ritualistic toast and commentary elsewhere.

"And these programs," I heard her saying now, grabbing the stack I'd brought from church after the ceremony and put it on the table. "Are the serving pieces ours?"

"No, they belong to the caterer," Sehun told her from behind a wobbling iris.

"Oh." Mrs. Jeon looked around. "Well, the cocktail napkins, then."

She picked them up, then headed my way, toward the exit. I made a point of bending down deeply over the chair  in front of me, as if untying the bow there was on the level of splitting an atom. Even so, she said, "I'll want all this fabric from these bows, as well. Tulle isn't cheap."

"Will do," Sehun said happily. I shot him a look, which he didn't see, too busy trying to keep up with her as she walked across the grass. Not for the first time, I wondered how managed always to be so good natured, especially when my own patience had left.

By 11:15, all that was left were the tents, tables and chairs, which the venue would deal with (although I did see Mrs. Jeon, on one of her final checking, studying them as if considering whether they, too, would fit in her car). It wasn't until she drove off, the car packed to the ceiling, that Eomma and Wooyoung reappeared. They were in a much better mood, red-cheeked and giggly. What Mrs. Jeon gives, champagne takes it away.

"Ding-ding-ding, the woman is gone," Wooyoung said, as her tail-lights turned out of the lot. "That was one for the record books."

"Mark my words," Eomma said, "I will not deal with that woman again. If she forgot something, one of you has to get it for her."

I doubt that's going to happen," Sehun told her. "She took just about anything not nailed down."

"But the question," Wooyoung said, pointing at him, "is did you take anything?" 

Eomma and I looked at each other, not understanding. Then Sehun, smiling, reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of tissues. "Yup."

"Damn!" Wooyoung laughed. "I owe you 20000 won."

"Am I drunk? I don't think I'm drunk," Eomma said to me. "But I don't understand."

Wooyoung was still chuckling, pulling out his wallet, while Sehun carefully folded the tissues. Then, suddenly, I got it. "You took those from her purse?"

Hearing me say this, Wooyoung busted out laughing again. Eomma, trying to look stern, said, "Okay, despite her behavior, that is not appropriate."

"Oh, I think it's very appropriate," Wooyoung said, handing the wons to Sehun, who took it with a smile. "She basically had them in full view, like a tissue dispenser. Don't tell me you weren't tempted."